Pathfinder - Guidelines, Story Pitch, Revisions, Scripts! (Patreon)

Pathfinder was one of my earliest work-for-hire comic writing gigs. Although my initial commitment for Dynamite was for only 6 issues, I'd end up writing 18 regular issues and a double-sized Special before handing the series off to the developers at Paizo to continue the comic story.

If you know anything about me, you know that I love tabletop RPGs and sword & sorcery. Expanding the personalities and histories of the Pathfinder iconic heroes and creating a classic-style adventure story was right up my alley and it became a springboard for several other future projects.

The gang at Paizo are friends and I deeply respect the care they've put into developing and maintaining the Pathfinder setting and characters. When I was asked to pitch the first comic story, Paizo Publisher Erik Mona put together a brief rundown of his preferences for the series and that served as a template for me to build from. I've included that here so you can see what I was given at the start. I followed it quite closely since it gelled well with my own thoughts for the series and, of course, I really wanted to get the gig. :)

From there I produced a story outline and Paizo gave extensive feedback notes to make the story sync up better with their setting. I've included that feedback here as well so you can clearly see how the story evolved based on the needs of the license holder. That's all part and parcel when it comes to work for hire. Your job is to add ideas into the mix but be flexible enough to pivot based on the needs of the client (ideally without ever losing the integrity of your story). Encounters changed, the villain changed, all kinds of stuff. Those notes might seem daunting but, honestly, they were really helpful. It's rare that I get such clear feedback, letting me know exactly what's required moving forward.

Lastly, of course, the full finished scripts for issues #1 and 2 so you can see how the outline became the actual comic. These scripts are done in an earlier format so they don't look like my current scripts, but they should be pretty easy to follow along with.

If you haven't read the Pathfinder comic series (and it was specifically built so you didn't have to play the game to get on board the comic) you can purchase the physical book or digital comics at the links below.

PATHFINDER Vol. 1: Dark Waters Rising (hardcover):

http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Volume-Waters-Rising-Dynamite/dp/1606903926/

PATHFINDER Vol. 1: Dark Waters Rising (digital):

http://www.comixology.com/Pathfinder-Vol-1-Dark-Waters-Rising/digital-comic/46215

I hope you find this more thorough breakdown of the commercial comic writing process useful, gang. I appreciate your requests and will be sure to hit on more of those in future updates.